The Special Economic Zone Chapter 12: Over the Moon

 

Over the Moon

Thorn watched the city being built from his small but well-constructed mayoral house. Using his ability to create money from mana, he continued making loans to anyone who he saw fit. He knew that, eventually, the money would be coming from outside investment, but since the renown of the Special Economic Zone wasn’t high yet, there was no other source of income. Several times in the following week more demi-humans arrived at the town, growing it to a population of about three thousand. The first houses were beginning to be constructed. Trees were being felled, and farmland was being seeded.

The day before Thorn’s deadline regarding the cementing of the constitution, he held an open meeting with Rea, Ron, Aki, Cass, and Pitch. All twelve other dwarves sat at one end of the table.

“We will now begin the open forum regarding the wording of the Special Economic Zone constitution. Does anyone have anything to say before we begin deliberations?”

Pitch nodded. “Yes. I want to say that you’re the craziest human I’ve ever met, and I’ve met a lot of humans.”

Everyone else on the council nodded their heads.

Thorn looked around the council, and then at the crowd surrounding the makeshift building. “No one? No one has anything to say?”

There were a lot of head nods and glances.

“Come on, guys. This is supposed to be a public forum.”

Rea raised her hand. “Um, we’re willing to go with whatever you decree.”

Thorn sighed, rubbing his temples. “Well, that was not exactly unexpected. I’ll ask each of you one at a time then. Aki, what do you think?”

“I have a few questions about the rule zero amendment.”

“Shoot.”

“Why did you place it so high up?”

“Because I want this land to become a hub of trade. Also because no one in my world has ever tried this before.”

“So you’re using us as your experiment?”

Thorn thought for a moment. “Yes. Yes I am. But I promise that this experiment is thought out. Yes, yes! That’s the kind of question you should be asking!” Thorn clapped his hands.

Aki raised an eyebrow. “You actually enjoy people questioning your decisions?”

“Of course! That’s why I set up this whole event! That’s what separation of powers is all about!”

Several dwarves held their hands up. Thorn picked the one on the far left. “Yes. Ruby.”

“How did you choose the people on this council?”

Thorn thought for a minute. “I didn’t think much, to be honest. That’s not for me to decide. This council is makeshift. Eventually it will be replaced by a house and a senate, whose members are elected from the general public.”

“So you do not intend to retain this council in its current form.”

“No. I do not. I want to allow the people to choose who will make the laws they abide by.”

“You are a strange one.” Ruby appeared satisfied.

Thorn pointed at the next dwarf. “Pearl. What is your question?”

“Why are you insisting on paying the people who are working on this town?”

Thorn nodded. “I want to establish a method of operation. I believe that everyone should be compensated for their work in a way that they feel is fair.”

Pearl frowned. “I’ve heard that people are not distributing the loans you gave them equally among their workers.”

“Then so be it.” Thorn crossed his arms. “As long as they are not cheating anyone, then they can decide where their money goes.”

“Define cheating.”

“Cheating is lying about things. As long as the people with the money are transparent about where their money goes, they don’t need to be policed about how to use it.”

“And how will you gauge this transparency?”

“Oh, I have a lot of things in mind, but we’ll wait until we grow economically before I implement them. Accountants will be central to the function of this city and its government. I want to encourage laissez-faire capitalism, but discourage monopolization and obtuseness.”

“This seems like a lot of work. Why are you doing this?” Pearl scratched his beard.

“Because, honestly, I want to create a better world. And I think this is the best way I can do this.”

Everyone nodded. Thorn pointed at the third dwarf with a raised hand. “Quartz. What do you have to say?”

“Yes. I was wondering about your policy regarding human civilization.”

“My mission is to interact amicably with humanity. However, there are some things I will not tolerate. Slavery is the obvious one, but tyranny of any kind is a no go. I wish to change humans from the outside in and from the inside out. Their current society is brutal and backwards. I want to change that.”

Everyone clapped. Thorn waved his hand. “I want this town to stand as a bastion of civilization and equality. Everyone is equal under the law, but not everyone is equal in their talents. Let the talents go where they should.”

Aki raised her hand.

Thorn pointed. “Yes.”

“I have a question about monetary policy.”

“Go ahead.”

“How are you going to finance this government? I know you have a special place where you are acquiring your money, but won’t that eventually be insufficient?”

“I plan on sticking to bullion currency for as long as we remain a city-state. What I imagine is that we will solicit merchants and companies from the human realm who will infuse this city with money. We will be as lenient as possible with our taxes, taking only enough to fund our social infrastructure.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean police, courts, roads, bridges, and public works projects. Eventually we will also have to raise an army.”

Aki frowned. “This is all grand, but how will you implement this?”

“I will create an administration. Every good ruler needs advisors. That’s what the legislative branch is for. If someone is voted into a position of office, then I will listen to them.”

Aki sighed, rubbing her ears. “You certainly are implementing a complex system here.”

“That’s the point.” Thorn looked around the meeting. “Does anyone else have anything to say?”

Thorn spent the next three hours answering questions about the constitution and his plans for the city and its government. When he was done, it appeared to him that everyone was satisfied with his answers. The sun was just about to go down.

Thorn stepped down from his chair and walked to his small, temporary residence.

Aki waved at him from across the street. She was smiling. “Here.” Inside her half-finished house was a wine press.

“About patents.” She sat down on a wooden chair. “I didn’t want to ask about this in particular because I wanted to keep it secret. But are you really going to legally protect people’s inventions?”

“Yes.” Thorn examined the press. “Patents are the best way to encourage scientific and social development.”

“You went over how you were going to enforce them, but I get the feeling you’re being too optimistic in regard to humans.”

“Yeah. It’s nice rhetoric. I really don’t know exactly how to implement it. It’s a goal that many people, lots of skilled negotiators, will have to handle.”

“So you realize that putting all this on yourself is too much for a single person, no matter how wise.”

“Exactly.” Thorn finished inspecting the machine. “I’m going to need a bodyguard service. At the moment I don’t believe anyone here is after my life, but I will need it in the future. I want you to take charge of that.”

Aki snorted smoke. “You really trust me that much?”

Thorn shrugged. “You want to see what happens with this experiment as much as I do, right?”

“Only because I smell a pile of treasure.”

Thorn smiled. “And there is no better motivation in the world.”

Aki grinned. “Oh, you get dragons.”

Thorn laughed. “Wanting wealth is not complicated at all.”

Aki’s grin softened. “I know what you’re doing. You’re playing off of humanoid beings’ lust for wealth and treasure in order to build a prosperous society.”

“Right. There was a writer named Ayn Rand in my old world who theorized about a society like this. I’m just happy that I’m the one who gets to see it become real.”

Aki chuckled. “You seem like the real deal to me.”

[Would you like to conjure a set of movable type? It will cost .02% of your mana.]

[Yes.]

A set of movable type appeared on the table. Thorn handed a piece to Aki. “Do you think you can engineer this machine to accept these and create something that can print? You have the basic idea, right?”

Aki nodded, taking the type piece in her hand. “I’ll do my best.”

Thorn yawned.

Aki smiled a bit. “It’s time for bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Thorn left the house and walked down the street to his own residence. All of a sudden he got the serious feeling that he was in danger. He twisted his body and felt a dart slip by his neck. He created a ball of magic as bright as an Arclight and cast it in the direction the missile had come from. He saw a shadow in between two buildings, which then leaped into the air and shot away into the distance. He lowered his light.

People from all around were poking their heads out of their tents and houses. Thorn extinguished the light. “It’s all okay.” He rubbed his neck.

Aki came out of her house and approached Thorn. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I sensed their presence outside but thought it was nothing.”

Thorn shook his head. “This just proves the fact that I need some bodyguards.”

Aki stamped her foot. “From now on, you are not allowed to go anywhere without an escort.”

Several dwarves and members of Rea’s pack were pushing back the crowd that formed. Thorn tried his best to calm himself down.

Aki and Rea started talking. They seemed to come to a conclusion and approached Thorn.

“Aki and I will be with you at all times from now on.” Rea stamped her foot. “You will not have a say in this. We will be your protectors until we can find some suitable warriors.”

Thorn took a deep breath. “Okay. Yes, I agree.”

“You’re not going to be paranoid about this, are you?”

Thorn shook his head. “No. I’ll keep going as I have. Now that I know someone is after me, I’ll be a lot more careful, but I still have a lot to do before I can call it quits.”

Aki crossed her arms. “Okay. I’ll start the shift today. I’ll be within earshot of you.” She motioned to Rea. “You can sleep tonight, but we have a schedule to keep now.”

Rea nodded, and bowed. The crowd was made to disperse. Thorn sat down on the only chair in his small mayoral abode.

“Yeah.” He sighed. “I suppose I may have been a little bit too optimistic.”